Extreme Park Makeovers

Plans are extremely preliminary, but Centennial Olympic Park could receive a $46.5 million facelift that would include a $3 million amphitheater, a "grand entrance" across from the Children's Museum of Atlanta, a broader footprint (gobbling up the Chamber of Commerce building site and unspecified land to the east), a multi-use events space next to the aquarium, a bike depot and a greater sense of general openness. The Georgia World Congress Center Authority is conducting a study to see if the philanthropic community would support such an overhaul of the 21-acre green space, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports. The park, which turns 20 next year, was designed to be inwardly focused when downtown was rather embarrassing, and some feel it's time for that to change. [Images: Coxe Curry & Associates/Georgia World Congress Center Authority/ABC]